Yes, I know that there are folks who have cried that EQ and EQII have been dying or all-but dead for years — and Next and Online Adventures are already deceased and buried. Yet during those years we’ve still seen some life in the first two games. They have persevered!

But now, I feel like I am witnessing the franchise’s final breaths. Me, the eternal optimist; me, who subsists on hope. And I started losing that hope because Daybreak’s actions lately appear to indicate that there’s no love left for one of my all-time favorite games, EQII. Between less dev interaction, less content, less communication, and just less enthusiasm for these two titles — yet a preponderance of attention on others — it’s hard to hold onto hope. At no other time has it felt as if Daybreak was turning its back on and all but abandoning the IP that gave it life more than it does right now. The IP that still has many fervent fans. My final two straws? The lack of any exposure at PAX West and the lack of enthusiasm for this year’s expansions.

Holy smokes! EverQuest is old enough to vote! The world of Norrath just turned 18 years old on March 16th. In the US, that is old enough to cast a ballot in elections, and in some countries it is old enough to legally start bar hopping. Of course, in Norrath, age doesn’t matter when it comes to a good pub crawl, but level can; players can participate in the 16th anniversary Pub Crawl only if level 75.

Of course, as you might expect when a major birthday comes around, there is plenty of partying to be had. EverQuest has a number of events to help players celebrate as well as gifts to procure. One of the highlights this year is a free level 85 heroic character for everyone who has ever played EQ! This character has to be claimed by the end of the month (before 2:59 a.m EDT on Saturday, April 1st to be exact). It will come in handy for participating in anniversary events that are level locked at 75.

Speaking of anniversary events, this year boasts both new and returning quests for folks to take part in until all the way until May 11th at 2 am EDT. Additionally, bonus XP is available from now until the end of the March (so jump on that fast if you want to take part!).

Read on for all the details on that and our chat with Executive Producer Holly Longdale and Producer Lauren McLemore!

One of the most famous and longest-lived MMORPGs is celebrating its 18th birthday today. Back on this date in 1999, EverQuest released to a much different gaming world than what we have today. Since then, it has released 23 expansions, switched to a free-to-play business model, and endured when many of its contemporaries have sunsetted.

Daybreak is cranking up the anniversary festivities with loads of activities, starting with the completion of two player-designed missions that were drafted up back at SOE Live in 2014. There are new rewards and marketplace items, as well as the return of all of the anniversary content from previous years. Gotta get your gnome race on!

Even better, the studio is handing out free heroic toons. “All players who have ever played the game will be granted a heroic character if they log in between March 16th and March 31st,” Daybreak says.

Believe it or not, there were actually people who played and enjoyed Landmark — and were saddened to see it taken offline. To kick off this week’s roundup of interesting MMO blog posts, we turn to those who knew and remembered Landmark with their words.

“The game, once just a bullet point on the EverQuest Next announcement at SOE Live, has been shut down,” The Ancient Gaming Noob said. “The web site and forums have been hidden away and the domain resolves to the Daybreak main page. The few remaining fans have had their final look at the lands of… erm… <does Google search>… Lumeria! That was the name of the place.”

Superior Realities took a tour on its last day: “That, really, is what was special about Landmark. You could go to any map, walk in any direction, and in no time flat you’d be sure to find something beautiful, fascinating, or awe-inspiring. The traditional wisdom is that if you give players the tools to make their own content, the vast majority of it will be utter crap, but Landmark was stunning refutation of that notion.”

Continue our roundup as bloggers dissect problems with The Secret World’s combat system, share tips on how to grind LOTRO points, mull over why it’s hard to go back to the “olden days,” deliver an early access review of Revelation Online, and pontificate on why theme park MMOs simply work.

We’ve looked back at 2015 for the launched games EverQuest and EverQuest II, the long-lasting beta of Landmark, and the MIA-and-presumed-dead (by some) EverQuest Next. Now it is time to look ahead at 2016. Instead of noting what we know, we get to speculate on what could be. What is on the horizon for this franchise? How will Norrath weather the next four seasons? Obviously a working crystal ball would be ideal right about now, but without one, we are left with trends, hopes, and outright wishful thinking. In 12 months we’ll see just how many of these were accurate predictions! Here’s what I see happening, what I want to happen, and what needs to happen in this next year for my favorite franchise.

When it comes to the EverQuest franchise, looking back at 2015 is a much different experience than looking back at 2014 was. That previous year ended on such a high note of hope and anticipation; players (including me) were excited about what was to come. This year, however, is closing out with an air of melancholy, apprehension, and — for some — resignation.

That’s not to say that everything has been all bad. Despite what some may have you believe, the titles haven’t been careening non-stop down the slippery slope of doom. In fact, EverQuest and EverQuest II might even be ending the year on an upswing thanks to their unexpected expansions. Unfortunately, the two newest children of the family, Landmark, and EverQuest Next, enjoy no such buoyancy in the final quarter. They have sadly faded into the shadows.

For as long as Massively Overpowered exists, this will be one of the most memorable years in our site’s history. It was the year that, after seven year of operation, old Massively got abruptly shuttered by AOL along with Joystiq and WoW Insider. It was also the year that the community rallied around us and Kickstarted the hell out of a new site, giving us the chance to create MOP as an independent MMO entity.

2015 will no doubt be remembered for a lot of other things too, of course. I don’t think anyone could have predicted all of the craziness and unexpected turns that happened in our genre over the past 12 months. Let’s take a walk back through the year-that-was to cover the biggest, strangest, and most exciting stories that we covered.

Last year, we gave this “award” to WildStar and ArcheAge in a split vote. Disappointments can be games, launches, patches, trends, stories, sunsets, all manner of topics. All of our writers were invited to cast a vote, but not all of them chose to do so for this category. Don’t forget to cast your own vote in the just-for-fun reader poll at the very end.

The Massively OP staff pick for the biggest MMO disappointment of 2015 is…

It’s that time of year again: when you realize half-way through your indulgence of in-game festivals that you totally forgot to go out and pick up gifts for all the EverQuest franchise and Daybreak Games fans on your list. Or maybe you didn’t forget, but you’ve been totally stumped as to what to get that certain someone that already has everything in game. Never fear, MOP is here to help! And we’ve got the answer for you: Gift them something outside the game. You’ve already got some good ideas regarding DC Universe Online, so here are a few for fans of the other titles that caught my eye.

In the 11th year of EverQuest II, what did SOE/Daybreak give to me? An emotional rollercoaster ride! This Sunday marks 11 years of Norrathian adventures in the fantasy game, and what an adventure it has been. This year, unlike any other before, has been marked by upheaval and uncertainty for the company behind the venerable franchise. Yet there have also been a fair share of high points. EQII fans have definitely weathered ups and downs throughout the last 12 months.

While normally an anniversary stroll down memory lane is centered more on what’s actually in the game, this look back is unique in that so many things outside the game itself influenced the year. Everything is intertwined. Development itself was obviously scaled back thanks to all the things happening to the studio, and in a genre that sees games come and go all the time, EQII players finally experienced the real dread that they might actually lose their favorite world. The good news is the year has ended as it began: on a high note. Hopefully, the lucky years 12 and 13 will be less of a seesaw and more like the dizzying fun of a merry-go-round!

Is it just me, or is Daybreak actively trying to make me dislike it? To force me abandon all hope when I enter? Because I like the games (what’s left of them, anyway) and many of the people (well, ditto), so it takes some dedicated effort to make me wince and begin to question my support. But that is exactly what these latest expansionannouncements for EverQuest and EverQuest II do.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that I don’t like expansions. I love them. And I am excited to get one! I am still pretty heavily invested in the EQ franchise; as with SWG, I’d always felt I would never fully leave EQII until that Norrath shuts down for good. The number of times Daybreak has announced one thing and then done the polar opposite is what’s causing the issue here. That is just not a good practice to be known for — and I am coming to expect it. Therein lies the problem.

Are you searching for a real-world community to bolster your MMORPG experience, something that’s still around after your favorite game is gone or over? Gamerz for Gamerz is a new event and community company hoping to be just that.

“Gamerz for Gamerz was founded to bring video gamers and developers together both online and in person,” reads the group’s founding post. “We will be providing unique and creative ways to find old gaming friends, network with other game industry professionals and maybe even make some new friends in the gaming world. We will also be hosting special events focused on strengthening gaming communities.”

In a perfect world, we’d have the mana of EverQuest Next news raining down from the sky, enough to satiate our hunger for information about the game we’ve long looked forward to. Instead, to many of us, including me, it feels more like we’re wandering lost in the desert for 40 years while trying to squeeze water from a stone.

We know that Landmark news has always been EQN news, but I can certainly understand players wanting to see more concrete EQN-specific things; I want to see more concrete things! I’ve been asking for a little more show and tell for quite a while. Sadly, that just isn’t happening. I was momentarily excited when in June, devs announced that the Landmark team was shifting the bulk of its focus from Landmark to EverQuest Next. Oh that was music to fans’ ears! But what have we learned about the game since then? We’ve seen one screenshot of Qeynos and had a couple workshops, but there’s been very little concrete news. For now, we must assume that the previously revealed information is still valid. Here’s a recap of key points we know so far.